


For the Dancing and the Dreaming

by Cosmicboredom



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Freeform, Gay Sex, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 09:46:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18689026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmicboredom/pseuds/Cosmicboredom
Summary: Hiccup's loss is too much for Astrid to handle.Hiccup hopes he really did the right thing.And Eret's stuck watching this unfold.





	For the Dancing and the Dreaming

****

Eret knows that Hiccup isn't okay.

It's been a few months, but the young man hadn't fully recovered. It was like losing a limb, and the phantom pain you carry afterwards, and Eret knows this hurts Hiccup.

He knows by the way Hiccup hides his pain. How he shoulders responsibility without complaint.

He knows because Hiccup doesn't, and it's eating at him.

 

Eret knows Hiccup isn't okay because of the way he cries. That night in the rain and sleet. Those once-happy green eyes clouded like the night with pain and loss. He knows by the way Hiccup beats at his chest, and grabs his shirt, as if to at once push him away and pull him closer. He can feel it in Hiccup's every breath. He knows Hiccup needs to feel this, the grief and resentment. To heal and move on. To make his city great.

Eret knows this, and that's why he lets Hiccup stay.

 

He knows it's working, he can see it in the way Hiccup smiles. Like he's holding something dear to his heart.

He can see every day is better for the young chief, jokes come easy, smiles are freely given, the boy is learning to open up again. 

But every day, Eret catches him at the docks, wind blowing through his hair, arms by his side. Hiccup takes a deep breath, but it sounds like a longing sigh.

Then Hiccup leaves, and that smile is subdued.

 

The nights Hiccup chooses to visit can tell Eret a lot about his day. On stormy nights, Hiccup arrives in heavy furs, as if the cold hurts him. Those nights Eret knows it's bad.

But on the calmer nights, the air is still cold, but Hiccup is more open. And at once, more insane to handle. His mind races miles ahead of him, and Eret struggles to understand these visions. But then Hiccup would kiss him, drink the very air from him, like he was stealing someone else's happiness to add to his own. Eret didn't mind so much, but it made Hiccup bold, and the days after would be the brightest.

 

Eret knows it won't last. He knows Hiccup is still hiding the pain, but he won't force it. He knows the loss is sometimes too much.

He can see it in the strain of Hiccup's eyes, and hands. The winter is the worst for him. Stress was not good for him, the stockpiles were low, people were complaining about survival, Hiccup nearly crumbled under that weight. That was the first night Hiccup visited, and didn't talk. Didn't  _ want _ to talk.

They ended up in Eret's bed, with Hiccup riding him like the Dragonrider he was. They said nothing, there was nothing to say. Hiccup didn't want him to say anything, didn't want to hear all the compliments and endearments he had to shower upon the chief. Hiccup was in control.

 

The fucked up part of all of it, was that only Eret could see how much Hiccup needed it. His friends moved on with their lives, and Hiccup was left alone with his duties. Eret was one of the few Hiccup trusted enough with the burdens of Berk, and he would carry the little city as far as he could. Hiccup trusted him, and that was enough to make him indebted.

Astrid had left long ago, unable to handle the sorrow that followed the chief like a shroud. It left Hiccup terribly lonely, and Eret supposed that's when this arrangement started. And he wondered for a long time whether Hiccup was trying to replace some part of himself. A part that was gone and hidden away from the world.

 

Hiccup made more effort to visit during the winter, and it became almost regular occurence to sit at the table to eat before retiring to bed. Sometimes, Hiccup would bring some new mechanism he was working on and they would figure it out together until the thing worked perfectly. Other times, Eret would teach him how to tie sailors knots.

Hiccup asked if they could go out to sea in the spring, and Eret couldn't say no. To see the light in those emerald eyes again, he would do anything.

 

Spring came fast, but all the seasons were rather weird this far north. Eret adapted quickly, with light furs of his own making, under the chief's tutelage. His sailors uniform changed to accommodate the viking outfit, versatile still but warmer and heartier. The arctic spray of Berk's mighty oceans barely touched his skin anymore. And the days ended warm in the chief's cabin as they sailed farther north than ever before.

Eret didn't expect the vigor it would give Hiccup, to be free to the land. He supposed that's what the chief missed most. And this was only one more way to ease that spectral hurt.

 

Hiccup attended more sailings, and he began to look as comfortable at the helm as he did on a dragon. Eret couldn't explain how attached he was anymore. Hiccup never let him say it anyway.

 

Then one night, it all fell away.

 

“Eret,” Hiccup gasped under the night sky, riding as he always did, always in control. And the spell is broken. He is free to say what he wants to say, what he needs Hiccup to hear.

But he doesn't. He picks up the speed of his thrusts, slamming into Hiccup from below, making the chief cry aloud. His hands talk, holding what was his, so fragile and lost and yet the most powerful man in Berk.

“Eret!” Hiccup almost screams, his legs clenching around Eret's waist. Now he's free, head thrown back, riding an entirely different dragon. He doesn't care if somebody hears, he's flying again and it's almost too beautiful.

 

“I miss him.” Hiccup says later, wrapped up in furs, his false leg detached, comfortable like he'd not been in a year. “I know I did the right thing, but I miss him.”

Eret doesn't say anything because Hiccup already knows.

 

Days later, Hiccup stands tall at the helm as they return to Berk. His shoulders are straight, he left the dragon behind finally. The fire in his eyes smouldered hotter than dragonfire, he was determined. And in the nights, Hiccup let himself go. His inner soul was repaired and gorgeous.

Eret was afraid he would be left behind in the wind.

 

Then Hiccup did something extraordinary, and walked to the pier in the day. He found Eret inside the hull of a ship, his hands were greasy from the work and he was sweaty from the summer heat.

He stopped Eret from his work to give him a box lined in fine cotton fabric.

“Before you open it, I just want to say one thing.” Hiccup said with the finality of a chief twice his years. “I lost one friend, and no one else helped me as much as you did. Please accept my offering for marriage.”

“I'm not Toothless, Hiccup. You'll never be able to replace him.” Eret muttered, holding the box close to his heart.

Hiccup smiled at him. “I know.”

Inside the box was a brooch, the first gift of a courtship he would later come to understand. The brooch was small enough not to catch on anything, and it was made of mother of pearl and a fiery blue gem.

“Hiccup,” Eret muttered in awe.

“I made it myself.” Hiccup's tentative smile made the gift all the better. “It's supposed to be an ocean with a blue ship, but,” and Hiccup dragged a hand through his hair. “Y'know, gems just don't take  _ shape _ as well as other materials, and I didn't want you to think it didn't have some sort of pattern or  _ design _ to it. And working with gems is so much more difficult- you're not saying anything, so I'm just rambling here. And where do you get off not answering me? I am your chief, and- and I must have an answer- not right away of course, if you think you need time. I just-”

Eret smiled, and grabbed Hiccup's wayward hand. “You talk too much, Dragonrider.”

Hiccup blushed, and it was the first time Eret had seen the chief so bashful. It was endearing. “Yeah, well, you don't talk enough.” Hiccup huffed.

“Mmm.” Eret hummed as he pinned the brooch on the fur Hiccup had given him the first day he'd spent in Berk. “The Dragon Chief and the sailor, huh?”

Hiccup's blush deepened. “Would you rather have me serenade you?” He sniped, and Eret was surprised, but glad.

“By Odin's beard, no.” He protested.

“So, is that a yes?”

Hiccup looked so worried, and Eret wouldn't say no, even if he truly wanted to.

**Author's Note:**

> So, no I haven't watched the last movie, but I swear to god, I don't really want to. Everything's ending and I DON'T LIKE CHANGE!  
> So this is my angst about the whole situation, and look at what I made! It's actually not that bad.


End file.
